Facebook buys e-book innovator Push Pop Press

Facebook on Tuesday said it has bought an innovative young startup devoted to re-imagining electronic books.

Facebook planned to incorporate Push Pop Press technology into the world's leading online social network and said it does not intend to get into the digital book business.

"We're thrilled to confirm that we've acquired Push Pop Press, a startup whose groundbreaking software changes the way people publish and consume digital content," Facebook said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We can't wait for co-founders Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris to get started, and for some of the technology, ideas and inspiration behind Push Pop Press to become part of how millions of people connect and share with each other on Facebook," Facebook continued.

San Francisco-based Push Pop came out of stealth mode in February of this year and a demonstration of the start-up's technology proved a hit at a prestigious TED conference just weeks later.

Matas and Tsinteris both did stints working at Apple, where Matas designed user interfaces and artwork for the iPhone, the iPad, and the OS X operating system for Macintosh computers.

The first title published by Push Pop was "Our Choice," an interactive work by Al Gore focused on causes and potential solutions for climate change.

"We created a new way of publishing and exploring text, images, audio, video and interactive graphics, then teamed up with Melcher Media and Al Gore to create a new kind of book," said a message at pushpoppress.com.

"Now we're taking our publishing technology and everything we've learned and are setting off to help design the world's largest book, Facebook," the message from Matas and Tsinteris continued.

Push Pop has no plans to publish any more digital books.

Al Gore's work will remain available as an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch application with future profits donated to The Climate Reality Project, according to Push Pop co-founders.

(c) 2011 AFP